


3. Supermarket Cereal

by INeverHadMyInternetPhase



Series: Running Into You [3]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Awkwardness, Fluff, Humor, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-07
Updated: 2016-04-07
Packaged: 2018-05-31 21:24:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6487867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/INeverHadMyInternetPhase/pseuds/INeverHadMyInternetPhase
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dan's had the longest day at the office, and all he wants is to get home, but he has to make a stop at the supermarket first. He's rushing through the cereal aisle as fast as he can when he hears a horribly familiar voice behind him - the voice of AmazingPhil.</p><p>Dan can be forgiven for jumping into a cereal mountain to hide, can't he?</p>
            </blockquote>





	3. Supermarket Cereal

**Author's Note:**

> Number 3 in my series of alternate first meetings for Dan and Phil. This one is super awkward (sorry xD). Also they're a bit older here - so Dan's graduated from university already and is working as a law intern. Phil's still a successful youtuber. Enjoy! ^_^

Dan’s day could have gone better, if he was honest. He was tired from a long, exhausting day at work, and all he really wanted was to get home, but he knew for a fact that his cupboards were grossly empty due to his neglect to go food shopping. If he didn’t want to starve tonight, then this trip was necessary first.

Dan’s brows sat heavily over his eyes as he scoured the aisles, basket swinging off his hand. One of the pluses of living alone was knowing he only had to buy the absolute minimum when he came to these places - even if it _was_ disgustingly impossible to find meals for one, seriously, he didn’t need food brands reminding him of his constant loneliness. His diet consisted mostly of microwave ready meals. Sure, he _could_ cook, but working at a law office by day meant he was usually far too exhausted by the time he collapsed into his flat that he had absolutely no energy left to even _think_ about cooking. No one at the office seemed to care about running a stressed intern ragged. He spent the majority of his days scurrying around after other people, doing their dirty work for them.

Not that Dan was bitter in any way.

For now, he wandered the aisles through a haze of blurred concentration, grabbing anything he recognised as vaguely edible that he thought he liked. In an effort to be vaguely healthy, he made a mandatory trip down the fruit and veg aisle, scooping up a few bits of green stuff to make his plate prettier. The other people in the shop were giving him a wide berth, at least - his obnoxious height was good for some things.

The supermarket was much busier than Dan had anticipated. Usually, he preferred to do his shopping far too late at night, when anyone sensible was already in bed, which kept the necessary human interaction down to a minimum. This time, though, he’d allowed his cupboards to fall into a bit of a dire state. And when he said dire, he _meant_ dire. As in, he was pretty sure there was a mouldy orange sitting somewhere, and one of the shelves in his fridge might have a slice of ancient cheese melting into the background. But that was literally it.

HIs basket already growing heavy on his arm, Dan paused for a moment, scanning his items and pursing his lips in thought. He was only going to buy enough for the next couple of days - that was honestly all he could carry on the tube back to his flat - and then he’d do a much bigger shop online so he wouldn’t starve after that. Plus, he wasn’t due to get paid for another week, and his bank balance needed to be kept happy. The only absolutely urgent thing still missing from his basket was breakfast cereal, so Dan turned his feet away from the fresh food aisles and headed up to the other end of the shop.

This section was, if possible, even busier than the front of the shop. Every aisle was crammed with people - women leaning over their trolleys, a father with two young children clinging off his leg, a young couple trying to manoeuvre a pram through the large piles of items. There seemed to be some kind of sale on, which had led to a (largely unncecessary, in Dan’s opinion) display of a pyramid of cereal boxes. It looked a little unsteady to him, and most of the customers were giving it a wide berth.

Dan followed their advice, knowing that his clumsiness coupled with his tiredness would _not_ make a good mix around such a precarious structure. Instead, he hurried as quickly as he could up the aisle, making a beeline for his favourite cereal.

He was musing over a couple of boxes when a slight commotion sounded from somewhere behind him, and he heard a quick yelp and a “Sorry!” in a low voice, turned high in a squeak.

Something about that voice tickled Dan’s memory.

“Are you ok?” the voice sounded again, followed by more movement, and Dan went very, very still.

He _did_ know that voice. He was sure of it.

But that was impossible.

Slowly, carefully, Dan turned and looked behind him. There was a woman on the ground, being helped up by a man with black hair in a long fringe, wearing a pokemon t-shirt.

Dan nearly choked.

 _AmazingPhil._ That was AmazingPhil. 

Dan was frozen in stasis, his eyes wide. AmazingPhil decorated Dan’s wall. AmazingPhil’s channel was Dan’s most visited internet page (and he went on the internet a _lot_ ). Dan owned more than one AmazingPhil shirt (strictly pyjama wear, but he loved them and may or may not keep them under his pillow when he wasn’t wearing them).

And now AmazingPhil was standing not three feet away.

Dan couldn’t deal with this. He stared straight at the tall, slightly intimidating form of AmazingPhil, watching as he set the woman back on her feet, attempting to dust her off, flustered.

Dan backed up, his hands trembling around his basket.

AmazingPhil turned towards the cereal aisle, moving forward.

Moving forward _directly towards Dan._

No, Dan couldn’t handle that. He couldn’t meet his _literal idol_ when his hair was a mess and he was sweaty and gross after a long day in the stuffy office and his basket was full of shitty microwave food.

So he really could be forgiven for the rather drastic action he took.

AmazingPhil was still walking towards him, so Dan dropped his basket, darted behind the nearest group of people, and dived behind the mountainous cereal display.

Yep. Hiding behind the cereal. Definitely the best idea.

Dan ducked, his entirely-too-tall-for-this body crumpling up as much as he could until he was basically crouching behind the cereal display. The boxes around him were only flimsy cardboard, the smell of cereal dust thinly coating the air. Dan made himself as small as possible. He hid in the shadow of the cereal mountain, crossing his fingers behind his back and wishing with everything he had that the damn thing wouldn’t completely collapse around him. A few of the boxes were wobbling precariously from his sudden movement, but so far, everything was remaining intact.

After a few minutes, Dan’s heartbeat had calmed down enough for him to consider his actual situation. There he sat, surrounded by flimsy cereal boxes, in the middle of a central supermarket at one of the busiest times of the day, hiding, because _AmazingPhil just fucking appeared out of nowhere._

Well, wasn’t Dan’s life just fantastic?

Dan swallowed, sitting as still as he could. There really wasn’t very much space between the mountain of cereal and the wall, so Dan found himself squidged up into a tiny ball. The top of his head was probably just visible over the number of boxes, so he had to duck at an awkward angle. He could feel his neck cricking. His fingers dug insistently into the hem of his office shirt.

How long would AmazingPhil be here?

Dan knew, from his ~~stalking~~ admiration of AmazingPhil’s videos, that cereal was an important element of AmazingPhil’s diet, so he could spend far too long here in the cereal aisle. Besides, Dan couldn’t risk emerging until he was absolutely sure no one was around to see the respectable young lawyer in his work suit crawl out from behind the display.

But after several long, tantalising minutes that felt like an entire age to Dan, he couldn’t take the suspense anymore.

Carefully, moving as slowly as he possibly could, Dan edged himself up into a crouch. His legs were cramping from being forced into such a tiny area, and he longed to stretch them, but if he did that he’d kick the entire display down and force several cereal boxes to cascade down around him like some sick kind of ironic rain.

All Dan had to do was make sure that AmazingPhil was gone. That was all.

He sidled cautiously up to the display, putting his eye up to one of the cracks between the boxes and peering out into the still-busy aisle.

AmazingPhil was still standing there.

Dan very nearly caused an avalanche with how suddenly he withdrew. His hand flew to his chest, and he bit back a gasp, steadying himself with his other hand on the ground.

_Ok. Just breathe. So AmazingPhil’s still there. Doesn’t mean he’s actually SEEN you._

So Dan carefully edged back up to the gap in the boxes and peered through again. AmazingPhil was standing in the centre of the aisle, his lips pursed as he ran his eyes along the shelves and shelves of cereal boxes. He had his hand in his jeans pocket, and it was twisted around at a weird angle (and ok, maybe Dan was fangirling a little about seeing the famous ‘hand thing’ in real life). Phil’s hair was a little messy, his fringe dripping down into his eyes, and his pokemon t-shirt had a stain down the front.

Dan did his very best to control his breathing. At least Phil hadn’t seen him yet. All Dan had to do was stay here and not draw attention to himself until Phil left, and the aisle cleared, and he could sidle out and be on his way without anyone any the wiser.

Except, did this shop have CCTV? No doubt that would have caught the weird 6 foot manchild diving into a display. Dan was probably going to be getting a call from the police.

Fabulous.

The minutes ticked on by. Time stretched immeasurably in which Phil pored over his cereal choices, and Dan watched him from behind the display of boxes. Dan’s legs were seriously cramping now, and his eyes were watering, and he wanted nothing more than to get to his feet and stretch out his aching muscles, but he _literally could not imagine_ anything more awkward. 

AmazingPhil couldn’t be much longer, could he?

As the minutes went on and on, Dan seriously considered just settling down, getting his phone out, and never emerging again. There were pros and cons to living behind a cereal display. On the plus side, he'd never have to deal with people again, as long as he kept hidden. After all, it wasn’t like he’d run out of food. Water might be more of a problem, but he could dig a tunnel into the kitchens...

_AmazingPhil was walking towards him._

Hissing a low curse, Dan edged as far back as he could, until he was fully pressed up against the wall. Through the cracks in the cereal display, Dan could see AmazingPhil’s legs moving decisively, his feet covered in trainers with mismatched socks showing just above them.

_And he was walking directly towards the cereal concealing Dan._

Dan’s heart fluttered in his mouth. He had always wanted to meet AmazingPhil, but not even in his wildest imaginings had it been anything _remotely_ like this. All Dan could do was watch as his doom approached him.

AmazingPhil’s feet stopped right by the cereal display. One hand reached out, pulling out a box from the top row of the display.

The same box that happened to be right in front of Dan’s face.

Dan blinked at the sudden flood of light, holding up a hand in front of his eyes. From the other side of the display, he heard an extremely startled exclamation, followed by the dropping of a cereal box and words spoken in the all-too-familiar voice of Dan’s most favourite youtube idol.

“What - what in the name of - _what_?!”

Dan blinked. He lowered his hand, staring up into AmazingPhil’s wide, shocked blue eyes, and managed a tentative smile. “Um. Hello?”

AmazingPhil just stared back at him.

Dan shifted awkwardly. He was still crouched on the floor, which meant that Phil was literally towering over him (seriously, Dan had not expected him to be this tall. And his legs were _seriously_ long). Dan swallowed, eyes darting between Phil’s shocked face and the ground in front of him.

The silence was growing impossibly awkward, so Dan decided to act. Decisively, he reached out and scooped up a box of cereal, getting to his feet with a wince as his cramped legs stretched. When he was fully upright, he held the box out towards Phil with another shy smile. “Um. You wanted cereal?”

Phil just stared at him.

Dan stared back.

A long, awkward silence ensued.

Then, all of a sudden, AmazingPhil’s face cracked into a wide, brilliant smile, and he doubled over with a shout of laughter.

Dan blinked. He watched as Phil laughed and laughed and laughed, the sound impossibly bright in the dim lighting of the store, but the sound was so contagious that Dan found his own lips curling up at the corners.

Eventually, AmazingPhil straightened again, and he fixed Dan with a stare, his mouth still turned up in a grin. “Um. Are you some kind of special cereal goblin, or something?”

“I wish,” Dan snorted. He rubbed at the back of his neck, biting down on his lower lip. “Um. But no. I’m not.”

“So what in the hell were you doing in the cereal pile?”

Dan let out a half-laugh, glancing around at the pile of cereal still surrounding him. “Um. That’s - that’s a long and awkward story.”

“I bet it is.” Phil shook his head, still chuckling. “Honestly, I always meet the weirdest people.”

“Oh, I know you do,” Dan rushed to reply. “I mean, with that woman that licked you that time, and then the Holy Mother who came to your door - I mean - clearly you just attract us, and this is nothing to do with me at all.”

Phil was staring at Dan again, his jaw slightly agape, his eyes wide. “How do you know all that?”

“Oh, crap.” Dan bit his lip again, digging his nails into the centre of his palms. _Shit, was Phil going to think he was some kind of stalker now?_ Dan shifted his feet, staring stubbornly down at the ground. “Sorry, I - shit, I should have explained, um, I...”

“Do you watch my videos?” Phil interrupted gently.

Mortified, Dan gave a slow nod.

Phil just stared.

Dan risked a glance up, wincing at the surprised expression covering Phil’s features, and he rushed to explain. “Oh, shit, look, I’m sorry, it’s just I had no idea you were even anywhere around here and then I turned around and you were fucking standing right behind me - and - and I couldn’t cope with that, naturally, so I looked for somewhere to hide and...”

“And the cereal mountain was the best place you could find?”

Dan gave another sheepish nod.

Phil’s eyes were dancing as he fixed Dan with another stare. His voice bubbled with mirth when he spoke again. “Well. I think this is the weirdest meeting I’ve had with a subscriber ever.”

Dan gave another small laugh. “A small claim to fame, but I’ll take it.”

Phil grinned. He offered a hand to Dan, which Dan gratefully took, clambering awkwardly over the pile of remaining cereal boxes. Miraculously, he managed not to knock any of the precarious tower over.

“Here, you’re covered in dust.” Phil placed a hand on Dan’s shoulder, brushing at the front of his white shirt, and Dan had to do his best not to squeal at the fact that _AmazingPhil_ was actually touching him. “What’s your name, by the way?”

“Oh,” Dan berated himself silently, “Sorry, yeah, I should have said. I’m Dan. And I promise I don’t make a habit of hiding in supermarkets.”

Phil laughed softly. “Well, I’m sorry for suddenly appearing and making you hide.”

“Yeah, really mate, you famous people have to be more considerate.”

“Famous, pah,” Phil waved a hand, his eyes sparkling.

“Come on, you have hundreds of thousands of subscribers.”

“Don’t say that,” Phil stage-whispered, “You never know when they might be watching.”

Dan snickered. “On behalf of all your subscibers, I’m offended.”

“That’s probably not a good way for me to go, is it,” Phil replied amiably. “I shouldn’t offend my audience.”

“No, you probably shouldn’t.”

“Oops.” Phil sent Dan a curious look. “So how long have you watched my videos for?”

“Oh,” Dan grimaced, “Far too long to not look like a stalker, I’m afraid.”

Phil laughed again. “Don’t worry, if my stalkers look like you, I don’t think I’m complaining.”

Dan stopped short. He stared at Phil with an arched brow.

_Had Phil just implied he was attractive?_

“I mean,” Phil continued, “You’re in an actual _suit._ You must have your life properly together.”

Dan plucked at his shirt with a wry smirk. “Appearances can be deceiving, trust me.”

“Well, if you watch me, there must be a nerd hidden under all that smart-hot-ness.”

Dan almost choked. He looked up to see Phil sending him a knowing smirk, and Dan had to fight again not to let his face resemble a flaming beacon. Dan hunted through his scrambled thoughts for something to say. “Ah. Yeah. Law intern by day, total nerd by night. That sort of thing.”

Phil grinned at him. “Law? I’m impressed, my videos are attracting all sorts of quality viewers these days.”

Dan glowed, and tried not to show it.

“Speaking of,” Phil hunted through his pockets for his phone, “Um, would you mind if I made a video about this? I mean, you don’t have to be in it if you don’t want, but I think this would be a really good anecdote for a vlog.”

Dan’s jaw dropped. “You serious?!”

“Yeah!” Phil hummed. “But, I think I’d have to repay you somehow. Like, I don’t know, could I buy you dinner sometime?”

Dan’s jaw dropped even lower. His thoughts turned into a scrambled mush, because _had AmazingPhil actually asked him to be in a video, then offered to take him out to repay him?_

Was that actually a thing that happened?

“Um,” Dan squeaked, “Yeah, yeah, that’d be fine. I guess.”

“Great!” Phil was grinning widely now. “So can I get your number?”

Dan couldn’t agree quick enough.

And when he left the supermarket, several hours later than planned and with some weird mix of food to have for dinner, Dan couldn’t bring himself to be annoyed.

He couldn’t even bring himself to stop smiling.

Because maybe he had AmazingPhil’s number in his phone. And maybe he and AmazingPhil had recorded a short clip together right there in the cereal aisle. And maybe they had plans to go out for a meal together that weekend,

Maybe that was a thing that was happening.

Dan couldn’t keep the smile off his face.


End file.
